Vista Tutorial - Installing Vista Home x64 Premium Problem

Hello,

I've built a new PC over the last couple of days, here are the specs:

-Q6600 Quad Cire
-Asus Striker II Formula nForce 780i
-8 GBS or RAM (Got 2 installed after reading reports of possible vista install problems)
-Geforce 8500GT (Got a new 9800x2 ready to install once I get this running
-WD Raptor 150GB HD
-Samsung 750GB HD (not currently installed).

I'm attempting to install Vista for the first time and I'm running into a persistant problem.

When I install, everything seems to go fine, I input my serial code, say to install on the drive, it goes ahead and starts the install process. Once its done it restarts and then comes up with a black screen, white writing saying:

[...]windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt[...]

C:WINDOWS ROOT>\SYSTEM32\NTOSKRNL.EXE

I was really looking forward to the Vista experience so I hope i can get this sorted.

Many thanks for your help.

Hello "MaestroX":
In all the excitement of "giving birth" to your all new pc, is it
possible you skipped a step in preparing your hard drive during the O.S.
install? You are undoubtedly doing a "clean installation" to a new hard
drive and at some point Windows offers the option to partition and format
your new drive ....BEFORE you install the O.S. Here is a quote from
Microsoft's clean installation procedure:

"If you want to create, extend, delete, or format a partition, you must
start Windows from the installation DVD or CD. If you did not begin the
installation process this way, follow the instructions for starting Windows
from the installation DVD or CD that appear in the first step of this
procedure, and then follow the instructions on each screen. On the Where do
you want to install Windows? page,>>>click Drive options (advanced),<<< click
the option you want, and then follow the instructions. Click Next to begin
the installation."
I'm thinking perhaps you installed the O.S. without creating a partition and
formatting it and therefore maybe Windows can't see anything you installed
but only mentions the first thing it looks for.... "NTOSKRNL.EXE-". Prior to
that point you were operating off the Vista DVD and when it comes time to
start using your hard drive it doesn't see anything? This is only a guess,
but you'll probably remember if you partitioned and formatted the drive. If
this isn't the problem, you might want to check and see if your hard drive
is malfunctioning with the W.D. software to see if there's a problem with the
drive itself. It's hard to believe that a new drive could be malfunctioning
but first use is often when a problem shows up. I hope I'm not leading you
down the wrong path....I'm certainly no expert but the Vista installation is
pretty straight forward and most problems show up after the installation.
Good luck with your installation!

xiowan.........in tucson

"MaestroX" wrote:

Make sure you have at least 1 active primary partition on the first drive in
boot priority. Should be the Raptor as you say it is the only one.

"MaestroX" <MaestroX.36uip4@xxxxxx-mx.forums.net> wrote in message
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